WHAT WE DO: Our mission is to cultivate leadership in our student-athletes through personal growth, life skills, and professional development. This journey prepares each young man to be the example by sustaining a lifestyle of winning.

WHO WE ARE: The P.A.W. Journey is a program-wide initiative for Clemson Football in which all coaches, staff and student-athletes participate. The program is led by

PILLARS

STRIPED is P.A.W. Journey's Personal Growth pillar. Tigers are not born; tigers are made. Becoming a Tiger is about building character, facing adversity, becoming better and ultimately stronger. Personal growth is the continuous effort to become the best you. STRIPED is the process we utilize to inspire our student-athlete towards maturity. The Tiger is known by its stripes. Each stripe represents a lesson learned, a victory earned, or a battle fought. These words embody this pillar: character, confidence, conviction.

Striped categories

CHARACTER: earned by Tigers whose actions honor our standard

FIELD/WEIGHT ROOM: earned by Tigers who grow/dominate during game time

NIERI: earned by Tigers who achieve academic success

COMMUNITY: earned by Tigers who voluntarily serve in their community

MAN: earned by Tigers who demonstrate growth on their journey to manhood

LEADERSHIP: earned by Tigers who show leadership on and off the field

The mission of C.U. IN LIFE is to equip our young men with the transferable tools necessary for a lifestyle of winning and address them as a whole person. Events within this program will teach our student-athletes critical life skills necessary to be respected and impactful men of society. Topics include finances, nutrition, etiquette and professionalism.

Since July of 2016, Clemson Football is in the Top 2 of all Clemson sports for most team Community Service Hours, and Top 5 of all Clemson sports for highest average service hours per student-athlete.

P.A.W. Journey worldwide: game Changers in the community

May 7th-12th, a week that forever changed 16 student-athletes and 5 Clemson staff members, who traveled to Haiti with a non-profit organization known as Soles4Souls. The group coupled with Tiffany Turner, whom is the director of outreach for Soles4Souls, devoted their time to the Haitian community in more ways than one. The group's first venture began with a shoe distribution. Shoes were systematically given to children with players organizing the shoes by size and gender, then when the children came to receive their shoes players would first size each child's foot and write their shoe size on the child's wrist. Next, the child would be taken into the room where all the shoes were housed and get their feet washed by a player. After that another player would then match the child with the correct shoe size based on the number on their wrist. By traveling to different schools throughout the week, the young men and women were able to have a maximal impact with more than 550 pairs of shoes allocated. The group also spent a day with Feeding Hope, which is a non-profit organization in Montrouis, Haiti that provides hot meals for both men and women within the community. Feeding Hope feeds over 150 people a day and the team got to experience this first hand through helping serve over 400 meals.

Golden harvest food bank day of service

On October 15, 2017, Golden Harvest Food Bank came to Death Valley to hold a mobile food distribution center, where 300 local families were supplied with groceries for their households. The men of P.A.W. Journey also helped pack weekend bookbag packs for school children within Oconee and Pickens County. These packs are discretely distributed to children in need of food for the weekend, with the team making over 1,250 packs! Additionally, 40 boxes of food products were packed and donated to Clemson’s PAW Pantry, a food bank reserved for Clemson students in need. We are thankful to serve our local community, families, and peers within the classroom!

The 5th QUARTER is P.A.W. Journey's Career and Professional Development pillar. The 5th QUARTER inspires each athlete to catapult into the marketplace. Whether the focus is on pursuing purposeful employment, or entering the N.F.L., 5th QUARTER ensures each young man remains the example in their community. These words embody this pillar: principle, preparation, purpose.

Adobe microinternship

From May 2nd through the 14th, 7 student athletes traveled to California to do a Micro internship with the acclaimed company, Adobe. Adobe allowed the student athletes to participate in a micro internship because the gentleman were only allotted two weeks off during their summer. The young men traveled to San Francisco and San Jose to learn three areas within the company (1) Sales (2) Product Marketing (3) and lastly Customer Success. The group worked full time throughout the duration of the internship, and were paid $20 a hour. The group of men enjoyed being able to learn everything they could from Adobe, while also exploring California and experiencing a culture completely different from their own.

Jeff, Allison, and Peyton express their excitement for the the 5th quarter Adobe micro internship with some of the Adobe staff.

Symposium: "True champions always seek new victories."

The 2017 Symposium emphasized that real champions never settle for what they have accomplished, but they always continue to look for new ways to succeed. The keynote speaker, Fonzworth Bentley, shared his story of how he managed being a student-athlete at Moorehouse University and how he thus catapulted his career into the entertainment industry.

2017 Hire A Tiger

Coach Swinney featured with some of the employers and current players

The 2017 Hire A Tiger event showcased our young men as future businessmen and allowed them to come prepared for a job opportunity. Employers set up tables with their information, and allowed the student-athletes to approach them and ask any questions that they may have concerning upcoming job opportunities. This event specifically highlighted the 2017 Senior Class, so that they were given the greatest opportunity for securing a position as soon as they graduated.

Clemson football's first annual p.a.w. journey to ENTREPRENEURSHIP

A special thank you to C.V.S.M.D.C. for coming to share immense amounts of knowledge that our Tigers may now apply to their own personal journey's in entrepreneurship.

P.a.w. journey takes the field

On Saturday October 23rd, the P.A.W. Journey Team was recognized at the Boston College Game on the field for the conclusion of P.A.W. Journey Week.

Game Results

Our first home game the Tigers defeat Kent State 56-3

Our second home game the Tigers defeat Auburn 14-6

Our first away game the Tigers defeat Louisville 47-21

Our third home game the Tigers defeated the Eagles 34-7, making Clemson 4-0.

The Tigers defeated the Hookies 31-17, making the Tigers 5-0

The Tigers take down the Demon Deacons for Homecoming making the Tigers 6-0!

The Tigers defeat the Yellow Jackets 24-10, making the tigers 7-1.

The Tigers takedown North Carolina State, making them 8-1

The Tigers defeat the Seminoles, moving them to 9-1!

Brian dawkins lifetime achievement award winner

The Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 2013, in order to recognize men who exemplify the characteristics of greatness both on and off the field. Coach Swinney said, "Brian Dawkins epitomizes everything you strive to be on and off the field when it comes to being a Clemson football player. He is the ultimate professional and has represented this university with distinction in every way. He has set a standard of excellence in every way." Jeff Davis, was selected as the 5th recipient of this award and was recognized on the field during the homecoming game on October 7th.